Criteria for the L&S Liberal Arts and Science (LAS) designation

Approved by the L&S Curriculum Committee, December 9 2025

Courses with the Liberal Arts and Science (LAS) designation advance the College of Letters and Science mission. 

For an individual course to receive the LAS designation, L&S Curriculum Committee looks for evidence in the course proposal that at least two of the following five outcomes of liberal arts education are integral to what students will learn and do in the course. Evidence should be woven through the course-specific learning outcomes, content, activities, and assessments. 

A. Develop and respond to arguments using relevant evidence and communication strategies.

Key ways this could be demonstrated:

• Evaluate possible interpretations and conclusions through qualitative and/or quantitative analysis with consideration of the views of others and possible sources of bias.
• Develop analysis and communication skills that allow one to engage effectively with multiple audiences. 

B. Understand and apply the theories, methods of inquiry, skills, and patterns of reasoning that characterize a field of knowledge within the arts, humanities, social sciences, biological sciences, physical sciences, or natural sciences. 

Key ways this can be demonstrated: 

• Connect theory and application to engage with problems and find solutions using qualitative and/or quantitative methods
• Utilize existing frameworks of knowledge and/or adapt those frameworks to examine questions using standards of intellectual rigor, precision, and reasoning appropriate to the discipline. 

 C. Synthesize and integrate knowledge and modes of thinking to engage with problems or produce works of creative expression.

Key ways this can be demonstrated:

• Make connections among diverse subject areas or intellectual frameworks to advance knowledge and understanding or express original insights.
• Apply multiple forms of knowledge to new settings and increasingly complex problems or performances. 

D. Recognize and respectfully engage with multifaceted and often contested cultures and societies. 

Key ways this can be demonstrated: 

• Place key decisions and developments in broader social, cultural, and historical contexts
• Demonstrate critical reflection regarding cultural and personal values or experiences. 

E. Practice the habit of independent, meaningful, and original inquiry. 

Key ways this could be demonstrated:

• Formulate open-ended questions based on critical engagement with course material and consider how these questions could be satisfactorily answered. 
• Identify implicit questions or gaps in knowledge and discuss their implications and significance.

• Previous guidance: 
  
  Approved by L&S Curriculum Committee December 5, 2005
  
  Courses with the Liberal Arts and Science (LAS) attribute must encourage students in one or more of the three “habits of the mind” of liberal arts education, as specified by the College of Letters and Science. These include:
  
  1. Skilled written and verbal communication, excelling in formulating and expressing a point of view, reflecting and questioning current knowledge through reading, research and consideration of the views of others. This criterion includes:

• fluency in reading, writing, and oral communication
• ability to understand and use prose, analyze documents
• ability to use quantitative information to understand, develop and respond to arguments
• critical and reflective quantitative, reading, and communication skills
• reasoned, well-organized, and sustained discussions of important issues or questions, including the ability to explain and evaluate different or opposing perspectives evenhandedly and dispassionately

2. The ability to draw flexibly upon and apply the modes of thought of the major areas of knowledge.
This criterion includes:

• understanding and application of the fundamental theory, methods of inquiry, and patterns of reasoning that characterize fields of knowledge within the arts, humanities, sciences, and social sciences, including the basic principles of logical, mathematical, and scientific reasoning
• recognizing and evaluating new information, integrating that information into existing frameworks of knowledge, and adapting those frameworks as necessary or appropriate, using standards of intellectual rigor or precision appropriate to different subject areas
• posing meaningful questions that advance knowledge and understanding
• analyzing arguments, evaluating the evidence supporting them, and framing reasonable and persuasive counter-arguments; similarly, constructing arguments, supporting them with relevant evidence, and anticipating likely counterarguments
• connecting theory and application through analysis of research or conducting research
• making connections among diverse subject areas and modes of thinking
• applying the major areas of knowledge to the solution of individual and community problems

3. Knowledge of our basic cultural heritage as a multifaceted and often contested history. This criterion includes:

• the ability to place key decisions and developments in broader social, cultural, and historical context
• self-critical appreciation of cultural and personal values